


Gravity

by ohfiitz



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 15:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1433500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohfiitz/pseuds/ohfiitz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry breaks the news to Hermione over coffee, but telling her turned out to be harder than it was supposed to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gravity

A man.

A woman.

Two cups of coffee between them.

And silence.

She moves to arrange the pleats of her skirt for the twelfth time in fifteen minutes, for lack of something else to do with her sweaty hands. She doesn't even wear skirts that often. Only when she’s with Harry, because she knows he likes it when she does. She wonders if he’s noticed that she’s wearing a skirt today.

 _“I missed you”_ , she wants to say, but decides that it is wrong— so wrong to miss someone who was only away for a couple of days.

He looks at his watch, though there isn't really any reason to, because he’s not in a rush. He realizes this a second too late, and the only thing he can do is wish that Hermione doesn't take the gesture as a sign that he can’t wait to leave.

 _“I missed you”_ , he wants to say, but finds it odd to say something like that when he had only been gone for a couple of days. Instead, he says,

“You look great today”, because she does. He notices that she’s wearing a skirt. Hermione rarely wears skirts, but they always look good on her.

 _“You should wear those more often”_ , he wants to say. But he knows well enough that her wardrobe choices are not his concern.

“Thanks”, she says with that smile that he loves so much. 

“Ginny said yes”, he says. Telling her turns out to be more difficult than he imagined, and more painful than he wished it would be.

He sees her wince.

He takes it as a wince of surprise, but really, it was a wince of pain.

Of course, she wouldn't be surprised at the news. She already knew, Ron told her. What surprises her is that she finds it painful to hear it directly from him. Even more painful than she expected it would be.

“Congratulations”, she says with a wide smile, an attempt to convince herself that she means it. She isn't convinced. But she hopes he is.

He stays silent for a while, wondering why, for a quarter of a second, Hermione’s reaction sounded sarcastic. Or maybe it’s just him. Maybe he secretly wished for her to be sarcastic and not genuinely happy for him and Ginny, as she most probably is. He shakes his head slightly, brushing the thoughts off his mind. Surely, Hermione would be happy for them. She’s his best friend, and Ginny is her fiance’s sister. She’s always been supportive of their relationship, and she’s always been supportive of _him_ , even though he tends to be reckless and annoying at times.

He looks at Hermione, and he sees someone he really cares about. He sees the person who grew up with him, and fought with him, and stood by him every moment of his life. The person who always cheers him up. The person who never fails to bring him back to his senses whenever the situation steers out of control (which is always, really). Her soft smile. Her warm eyes. Though he sees a slight difference today. Her smile seems a bit worried, and her eyes, sad. A sudden realization dawns upon him. When he marries Ginny, and Hermione marries Ron, things will never be the same. He knows this, and for a moment, he feels an urge to fly back to Ginny’s training camp and cancel the engagement. But he doesn’t, because he is reminded of one thing.

_**Hermione’s his best friend.** _

She moves again, with great difficulty, to arrange the now-perfect pleats of her skirt. Her hands are now shaking harder than ever, and she feels something clogging her throat. Outside, she seems busy with her pleat-straightening, but inside, she’s starting to panic. _“I’m going to cry”_ , she says in her mind. She’s almost sure of it. But she knows she can’t. So she takes a deep breath, and tries to regain control of her emotions, a task she has perfected over the years.

I’m not going to cry.

I’m not going to cry.

I’m not going to cry.

I’m not going to cry, she thinks. Over and over. Over and over, until the lump on her throat is gone, and her hands stop shaking frantically. She looks at Harry, and hopes he didn't catch a glimpse of her almost-breakdown. But Harry doesn't seem to have noticed, for he is deep in his own thoughts.

 _Good. Harry can’t see that I'm affected by this turn of events_ , she thinks.

Hermione heaves a deep sigh, frustrated by the torrent of her emotions. She looks up at Harry and suddenly, she wants to leave. She wants to run, run as fast as she can, go somewhere, _anywhere_. Anywhere but there.

She’s tired. Of everything. Of this, all of this. Of trying hard to get a hold of her feelings, yet always, _always_ failing when it comes to Harry.

Harry.

Harry, who she cares about the most. Harry, who annoys the hell out of her. Harry, who has hurt her many, many times in the course of their friendship. Harry, who doesn't even seem to care that she only wears skirts when she’s with him.

Harry, who is now getting married. Hermione has gone through a lot. But somehow, it always goes back to him. She wants to tell him this, all of this. Tell him to go. Take the first flight to Albania or wherever-the-hell Ginny is, and break off the engagement. But she doesn't. Because in every struggle and almost-breakdown she’s gone through, there is one thought that always shakes her back to reality.

_**Harry’s her best friend.** _

She clears her throat. “I can’t wait for it”, she says, as she picks up her coffee cup to take a little sip, and places it back on the table.

The scene looks exactly as it did five minutes ago.

A man.

A woman.

Two cups of coffee between them.

And more words left unsaid.

**Author's Note:**

> So, hello. This is my first (and only) attempt at fanfic writing and I wrote it ages ago so... meh. Comments and suggestions are very welcome, though! I might re-visit and polish it one of these days when I find the time. Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
